Bank of America Cuts Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) Price Target to $10.00

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) had its target price lowered by Bank of America from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Barings BDC from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Barings BDC from $9.00 to $8.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

Barings BDC Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BBDC opened at $9.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $8.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.53. Barings BDC has a 1-year low of $7.66 and a 1-year high of $10.85. The company has a market cap of $951.74 million, a PE ratio of 8.68 and a beta of 0.73.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $64.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.78 million. Barings BDC had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 38.54%. Barings BDC’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Barings BDC will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Barings BDC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.52%. Barings BDC’s payout ratio is 110.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Matthew Freund bought 3,522 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.07 per share, with a total value of $31,944.54. Following the completion of the acquisition, the president now owns 20,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,418.14. This trade represents a 21.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Eric J. Lloyd bought 34,375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.12 per share, for a total transaction of $313,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,949.28. The trade was a 87.70% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Barings BDC

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Barings BDC by 393.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in Barings BDC in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Barings BDC in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Barings BDC in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Barings BDC in the 4th quarter worth about $80,000. 44.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Barings BDC

Barings BDC, Inc is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. It seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans, first lien debt, unitranche, second lien debt, subordinated debt, equity co-investments and senior secured private debt investments in private middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries.